Let me set you up
by Frostyfluff31
Summary: Natasha tries to set Steve on another date with Bruce's help.
1. Chapter 1

**This is the same story, one of the first ones I've written, I deleted the last two chapters. Sorry for making you open this again, I didn't know that the removal would put the story back at the top of my page. I'm so sorry! Just editing and cleaning up.**

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Bruce Banner and Natasha Romanoff ate their lunch in silence as they sat side by side inside the common dining area of the Avengers Tower.

The scientist grabs the napkin on the table as soon as he finishes his meal, wiping his mouth gently before turning his head to the side, eyeing Natasha's plate which was still half full. He shifts his gaze to her face, only to see that she's already looking at him. His lips curve upward when their eyes meet and she endearingly stares back at him for a few more seconds before giving out a very flirty wink.

He chuckles at her teasing and encourages her to finish her meal without saying a word by giving her a knowing look prior to leaning his back to place an arm over her metal chair.

Loud and heavy footsteps from the other side of the room started to become more and more audible. Bruce sits up properly and curiously looks at the door, waiting for the person to come in. A tall, muscular man walks in and positioned himself in front of them, his facial expression is noticeably a tad more serious than usual. Steve Rogers greets him first with a quick nod then surprisingly glares at the woman eating beside him.

"I'm not doing this again Natasha," The captain spoke assertively, like he's giving out mission orders.

Confusion causes Bruce's eyebrows to crease, his eyes moves back and forth at them. He's wondering what she's done this time that made Captain America so upset.

Natasha didn't seem to be in any way affected by the other man's statement. She continues to eat her lunch peacefully, not taking a single peek at the intruder.

"I am not going to another blind date," The captain continues, letting Bruce know what he came in for. The conviction in the his teammate's voice tells him he's had enough of her set-ups. He understands where the leader is coming from, it was no secret that he had countless of unsuccessful, embarrassing and awkward meet ups already.

Steve is a very nice guy, tons of girls would want to date him as he's what they call the perfect man. Aside from his physical aspects, he has a lot of admirable qualities women find very much attractive. Unfortunately, Bruce said to himself, he's still not able to find the one or maybe he already did and there's a possibility that that someone might be from the past, someone he can no longer be with yet can't let go of.

"You're going to like this one," Natasha finally acknowledges his presence yet hardly lifting her head for any eye contact.

"You say that all the time. How do you even know these women? Just, just kindly tell her that her date politely declined," Steve then turns his back after he made his decision clear, leaving them alone once again.

Bruce's mouth was left half open at the confrontation. His mind was still processing what played out in front of him as well as thinking about talking her out of it. He remembers to close them after a while when he subconsciously adjusts his chair slowly to Natasha's direction. He sees her eating the rest of her food nonchalantly as if barging Steve never happened.

"He's not very nice," She feels his eyes on her and she turns to face him innocently.

"I think he just wants to take his time," He responds with a sigh. Now she's playing with me, he thinks.

"What time? He forgot he's already a hundred years old?" She replies with a smirk before chewing her food again.

"Why don't you just let him be? Why not let him figure it out by himself?" Bruce unintentionally says in a very serious manner.

"Are you reprimanding me, Dr. Banner?" She raises an eyebrow at his question, her arms cross instinctively. He tries to correct himself, he didn't mean to say it like that.

"I'm sorry if it sounds like I am but all I'm saying is that maybe he should do that on his own," He says in a much gentler tone, although already anticipating that she won't let it go that quickly. He tries to place a hand on her leg but she didn't allow him to do so, so instead he moves in closer to her space to encircle his arms around her.

"I know you are concerned about Steve," She tells him, nudging her body to his. "I do admit that I set him up for my own personal fun, but that was before. My thoughts about hooking him up has changed. I'm actually doing this for his own good now."

Bruce tilts his head to rest on her shoulder as he closes his eyes, taking in her words. He's thinking about it carefully and not really sure what to say back. He's trying his best to see it from her side, dwelling on the possibility that this might actually benefit Steve.

"Why don't you trust me on this?" She asks as her soft hands soothingly rubs his hairy arms. "I already interviewed three attractive women that might be good for him."

He's quiet again, her words on repeat in his head, she said interviewed?

She squeezes their hands together.

"Okay. Okay. So may I know who exactly are these women?" He inquisitively asks.

"It's a surprise," Natasha's lips curved up to a naughty smile. "Though there's a fourth one that might be the perfect match. It took me a while to find her."

Bruce sighs once again. He can't believe it but right now she has actually convinced his brain that this might really be a good idea.

"Well I guess you have to persuade Cap first," The words anxiously came out from his mouth as he lets go of his grip on her.

"Oh I'm not the one whose gonna talk to him," She says and this time her hands were the ones that snaked around him.

He closes his eyes again. 'Oh the things I do for her', Bruce thought out loud in his mind.

"You owe me," He sincerely utters and then he sees her face light up.

"Ofcourse I do," and Natasha leans in to kiss him earnestly on the lips.


	2. Chapter 2

'Why?'

Bruce Banner asked himself one more time.

'Why did I drag myself in this?' He sinked his back further into the couch in the common living room at the tower. He placed both of his hands on the top of his face, inhaling and exhaling deeply. He's been sitting here for an hour now thinking about what to say to Cap. He's too distracted to work inside the lab.

'Maybe this isn't such a good idea after all.' Meddling with other peoples lives is definitely not his style and this is not just some random person too, this is Captain America were talking about. They haven't even shared anything personal, the closest one they had was when he approached him at the bar before Ultron years ago.

'I should just let Natasha deal with this, it's her idea anyway," He remembered the smug look on her face that turned incredibly lovely seconds after he agreed to talk to Steve.

'This is insane. If I was not able to master my control I'd probably be the hulk right now.' Bruce stayed in the same position for a few more minutes.

"Dr. Banner, are you turning green?" Steve's loud voice pulls him out of his reverie.

Bruce was startled. He removed his hands from his face and clumsily pulled himself into an upward sitting position. He turned his upper body to face the captain.

"Oh, hey Steve, this is just a... what I'm doing is.. uhm.." He started with a nervous chuckle, his right hand at his chest level is making different kinds of movements in the air. "This is just my daily deep breathing exercise".

"You looked like you were having a heart attack," Steve replied, the concern on his face visible.

"Uh yeah but it's nothing. Just a person who turns into a hulk thing. Nothing to be worried about, Cap," Bruce tried to reassure him.

Captain America's lips parted then closed a few seconds after. It looked like he wanted to say something but decided not to. Instead, he sat down on the black recliner chair next to the couch.

An awkward silence that lasted for five long minutes was in the room until one of them decided to speak to the other.

"Everything alright with you and Romanoff?" Steve questioned him in a perturbed manner.

'Great now he thinks we have problems' He said to himself.

"We are doing very well. Natasha is just, she's just exceptional" A bashful smile formed in his face.

Steve smiles in return. "I apologize for barging in earlier. I didn't mean to disturb your time together."

"Oh it's fine. I think she's the one who should be expressing regrets because of her behavior." Bruce can't help but feel apologetic in her behalf. He knows that Natasha would never correct her actions for the captain out loud.

"The women I met on those dates were all beautiful. It's just that they all went overboard," Steve shuts his eyes, like he recalled the bad experiences he had on those dates. "Or maybe it's just me. I really am too old fashioned for this generation."

Bruce felt sorry for him. It's been a while since he was found on the ice, he had enough time to see the new world but the struggle to keep up still seems a bit too much.

"Or maybe you just haven't found the right one yet," Bruce counters. "There are still a lot out there that prefers the classics."

Steve gave out a soft hearty laugh. "I'm not so sure about that."

"Well you'll never know cause I happen to know a woman who likes a man with a big ego, a woman who likes a man from outerspace, a woman who likes a man into secret spy stuff and a woman who likes a man with big anger issues. Not all of them are the same. So I'm pretty sure you'll meet someone who'll like you because your you," Bruce narrates.

"Well if you put it like that, I might as well have a chance," Steve chuckled once more.

Bruce can't help but give out a genuine laugh as he blurts out, "so Cap, why not give blind dating another shot?"

"You know what Dr. Banner? I had a feeling you were gonna say that."


	3. Chapter 3

_Date's on Thursday, 7pm at Penne Italia Restaurant. Wear something nice._

A tall, handsome, brawny man entered the cozy restaurant 45 minutes past 6 in the evening. Wearing a blue button up shirt tucked in solid dark denim jeans, sleek hair brushed to the side, face well shaved, he looks like, as always, the perfect gentleman.

The hosting staff of the restaurant warmly greeted the man and seated him to a nearby table with a card on top that says reserved. Only a few people are inside and they didn't even spare him a glance. This has always been the case everytime he goes out on Natasha's blind dates, no one seems to recognize that he is one of the Avengers. He is thankful that she always ensures that he has some privacy during these meetings.

He admired the picturesque small lamps that gives out a soft white illumination hanging on the restaurants ceiling as he patiently waits for his surprise date. He looked at his watch, 6:56 pm. He is not really expecting that this would be the night where he meets the 'one' but he is just hoping it would turn out well unlike the ones he had before.

Soft italian music started to play. He doesn't understand a word but the tune is suprisingly pleasant to his ears.

7:05 pm. 'Okay she's not on time, I hope she won't make me wait for an hour like the third one.' He reflected.

"Well this looks a bit fancy for your liking," Said a silvery voice from behind him.

He didn't turn around. He knows that voice. He hasn't heard it in years. He felt the heaviness in his chest. How did Nat even find her? He thought she didn't want to be found. Why did she agree to do this? As far as he knows, this road has already split a long time ago.

"So is this what you do? Turn your back at people?"

The words pierced him. He didn't mean to do that to her. He was on the run. He didn't want to compromise her any further. He didn't had a chance to explain. Knowing that there is only one way to clear this, he slowly turned around.

Sharon Carter's hazel eyes are dazzling. Her blond hair straight and long, her pale skin looks soft and supple. She's wearing a short black strapless dress that was very alluring. She is simply just stunning.

"Are you going to ask me to sit down?" She asked with a coy smile.

"Yes ofcourse, here let me help you with that," He moves the chair to let her sit.

He settled to the seat on the other side of the table to face her.

Her head is tilted down, slowly lifting it to look at his stunning eyes.

"I didn't think I'd see you again," He started.

"Yeah, you made that pretty clear for the past 5 years. But to be fair, I didn't think I'd see you again too," She voiced out.

"I didn't want to drag you any further in the..." He began to explain when her right hand rose in the air to stop him from talking.

"Steve, I am very well aware of the past situation. I went through a hard time too, but I know it was nothing compared to what you had to endure," She smiles comfortingly.

"It was a tough situation to be in. I didn't want to compromise you," He gently replied.

"Well, I thought about what happened to us before. I knew somehow there was a connection but the circumstances were just too overwhelming. But I guess it was just never enough too. You didn't look for me," She said truthfully.

"I tried to find you a few years back. No records can be found on the file. I went to your apartment but you were no longer there. I didn't know where else to go. How did Natasha get in touch with you?" He sincerly questioned.

"She has her ways. It took her long enough too. I was skeptical at first when she told me about this, but then she was able to get me to. I knew that I was eventually going to see you again anyway. Also, I still remember that somehow you owe me? Do you still have that list?" The side of her lips turned upward. She beamed at him, eyes shining.

"It's still perfectly safe with me," He chuckled. "A lot of things happened and we can't probably start from where we left so if you don't mind me asking, can we do this from the beginning?"

"Okay," Her smile is still broad.

"Well in that case, Hi, My name is Steve Rogers."

"Sharon Carter."

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 **Sorry had to delete the others, but this story is already complete up to this chapter. :)**


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